Drop Dead Gorgeous 〰 Jake Fitzgerald

15

I was going to sit down with everyone at lunch, but upon arriving at our usual table, I realized there was actually no one there.

Defeated and alone - not mention slightly confused and angry - I sat down, nearly throwing my tray on the table out of frustration. Some people looked over my way, as if mocking my loneliness, but I decided to ignore them.

In fact, I had decided to ignore everyone. I needed answers, like why Emma was suddenly so bitchy and why Audrey was all 'It's not you, it's me', and why Brooke would even think for a second that I would kill her ex-boyfriend and why Jake was being cold and distant.

"Por que tan sola?" someone whose voice I recognized as Gustavo's asked, sitting down next to me.

I nearly rolled my eyes when he asked me why I was all alone, before realizing that he really didn't have a clue.

"I'm not alone on purpose idiot," I snarled out, before going back to my food. "I'm just being left out."

"I'm not surprised."

"You - you know what? I'm not in the mood to be arguing, especially not with you."

"I was actually trying to help."

"Really? By making me feel worse about myself?"

He gave me a small, sincere smile. "Welcome to the club of outcasts."

I stared at him for a bit before answering, a little less heated now than I was. "Aren't we just the perfect freak show?"

"You know what you need? To get your mind off of this."

"What do you suggest?"

"Well, my dad doesn't trust me, and I need to know what the hell is going on. Also...."

"Go on..." I urged. He hesitated, glancing at me almost shyly before saying, "Brooke wants information on what happened to Ian, so I wanted to check that out too."

"Wow, outcast in love. That's not good."

"Shut up," he snickered, slightly pushing me. "So, are you down?"

"To break into the sheriff's office, risking my entire life by having a 50/50 chance of possibly getting arrested?" I scoffed. "Of course."

-

After school, Gustavo and I sneaked into his dad's office, surprisingly unnoticed, and not more than five minutes later we had already found some information about Ian.

"Is that the Mayor?" I asked him as he nodded, taking out his phone to take some pictures of the evidence. I glanced up at the door, making sure no one was trying to get in. Even if they were, it was locked. There was no way I was going to go to prison that easily.

Looking around the cabinets while Stavo kept fumbling with the papers on the sheriff's desk, I found a file with my mom's name on it, so I took it out and started reading it. It was mostly bring details about her life that I already knew, but then something caught my eye.

Jennifer Villa: Lakewood killer case #4
Suspect: Unknown
Tied to: Brandon "Lakewood Slasher" James - Lakewood murder 1994

"Hey Lexa," Stavo suddenly called out, snapping me out of the mysterious file that for some reason tied my mother to the Lakewood Slasher.

"What?" I asked, walking over to him.

He handed me a cream colored folder full of papers. "Has your name on it," he shrugged upon seeing my confused expression as I took the folder. Opening it carefully as to not drop any papers, I began to realize what this was.